Sonic Squad: Shadow to the Rescue
by Coleiosis
Summary: Thaddeus Tower somehow emerges from the past and plots vengeance upon Shadow. Shadow must prove himself a hero in order to show his true innocence.


Sonic Squad: Shadow to the Rescue

By Cole Bezotte

The day after Shadow revealed his story, a lone man walked throughout the streets of Brooklyn/Mobotropolis (the two worlds merged together; remember that). The man muttered to himself about Shadow, and how "dangerous" he is. "That monster is still out there and alive!" he exclaimed out loud. "Once I get my hands on him, I'll slap him behind bars, and have him executed! He shall be destroyed immediately! I'll find him! I'll find him and destroy him! I'll find him! If it takes an eternity, I'll find that monster! I'll never surrender! I'll fight him! I'll beat him! Somehow, someway I'll save Earth for mankind! Shadow won't escape me again! I swear it! He won't escape me forever! I'll track him down to the ends of the earth! I'll rid this world of his menace, matter what! I swear it! I swear it! I'll do anything to destroy that monster, once and for all! It's my job to catch that rampaging monster! No matter how powerful he is, this government wants him stopped! I've got to think of a way to conquer that beast! You won't escape me again, Shadow! Just wait, you blasted freak! I'll have your hide!"

"SHUT UP!" someone screamed from the distance. The first man turned around to see that the current G.U.N. commander, Abraham Tower, had shushed him from shouting too much. "You've been ranting for too long about Shadow!"

"Because he is my enemy, that's why!" the man barked at Abraham. Abraham took a closer look at the man and was surprised to recognize his face. It was his father, Thaddeus Tower. Somehow, Thaddeus had come to the past, thanks to the work of Dr. Eggman's special machine, the Egg Timer. "You just don't understand, son," Thaddeus continued.

"I now understand!" Abraham barked at his father. "Now I remember the day that Maria died! It was YOU who killed Maria! Why have you done that?! What the heck is wrong with you?!"

"I had to do it for a good reason," Thaddeus explained. "She let Shadow down here on Earth! She let the monster loose and free to roam around here on our beautiful planet! Shadow would certainly destroy this earth and leave us at his mercy! We are in the midst of a crisis—a crisis represented by the most dangerous creature alive on the face of the earth! We must harbor no false hopes of containing this creature! We must act to crush him—quickly, with whatever means available! Shadow must be stopped!"

"Just because of that, you killed an innocent girl?!" Abraham exclaimed. "I'm so mad I feel like hating you! But I can't. You are my father, so I mustn't do that. And yet, I must find out what's been going on in that stupid head lately!"

Because of all that shouting and commotion, it drew to the attention of three friends, who were drawn to the chaos that was going on. Shadow, Luigi, and Christopher came to the scene and watched the two men argue. Shadow gasped as his eyes widened to see his old enemy standing right in front of him. "That's him!" he exclaimed in shock. "That's the man who killed Maria! He must pay for his misdeed!"

"So he's the guy, eh?" Luigi asked. "I don't think he's sorry for what he did. But how is he still alive today?"

"I got it!" Christopher said as he thought of the solution. "It must be that Egg Timer that Eggman created. It must have had a malfunction and brought this guy here to the present."

"What's the beef, you two?!" Luigi said as he came between the two arguing men. "Break it up! State your business!"

"Talk to my father please!" Abraham replied as he pointed at his father. "He's the one responsible for Maria's death! He had no right to kill her!"

"Listen, you two," Luigi continued. "I can't talk to you about this. But THIS guy can." He pointed towards Shadow, who stood there in fear for seeing Maria's murderer.

"YOU!" Thaddeus exclaimed, madder than ever. "Stand aside, boy," he said to Chris, who stood next to Shadow. "That creature must be stopped before it's too late!" With that, he pulled a pistol out of his pocket and pointed it towards Shadow.

"No!" Chris stuttered. "You can't! He's not a monster! He… he's saved the world before. No one's shooting him!"

"And I will continue to save our world until I can fight no more!" Shadow came in as he took a step closer to Thaddeus.

"What the heck?!" Thaddeus stuttered. "What's gotten into you, Shadow?"

"I took an oath to fight for right and freedom."

"That's right," Luigi came in. "The world will always have need of you, Shadow."

"So say we all," Chris said. "Your place is with us."

"So…" Thaddeus continued, still doubtful of Shadow, "you two trust that little black idiot, eh? Well, what good has he done?"

"I saved Luigi here from a painful force field once. Then I guarded the Mario Bros. Plumbing Shop from the six sinister villains that stuck with their Strength Sappers. Although, you may not believe this, but our currently common enemy today is Professor Gerald Robotnik's grandson Julian, also known as Dr. Eggman."

"His grandson?!" Thaddeus exclaimed. "How is that possible?! A descendant has gone traitor?!"

"That's not the real truth we want to tell you though," Luigi said. "There is someone who deceived you into killing Maria, and we need to bring him to you."

"That's not possible!" Thaddeus protested. "Quell told me a good reason to eliminate everything related to the project."

"I don't think his name is Quell," Shadow said. "And I'm going to bring him to you. I'll show you who the fake is now!"

"Okay, fine! But you must go alone if you want to value your life and continue existence. You must go now." With that, Thaddeus put his gun away and let Shadow go off to where the enemy was.

"There is one person I must see," Shadow thought to himself as he ran off. "And the person whom I shall seek first is Black Doom. I now remember seeing him there at the time when I was created. He has the key to the evidence that I need to prove to that guy."

Later, Shadow found himself in the deep forest, which is near Eggman's secret cave. He soon came across the exact spot where he saved Luigi from Black Doom's force field. "It was right here, I'm sure of it," Shadow thought aloud as he stroked the ground. "He's bound to be near this area. And this…" Shadow picked up a familiar-looking piece of tree bark from the ground. "This is the exact same piece of bark that I used to slash against Black Doom's third eye. I can't believe it's still here after all this time. Perhaps I'll keep it as a memorabilia. It'll remind me of such a heroic time as that."

Shadow placed the bark somewhere special where he could remember where to find it next. "And now for Black Doom!" he said aloud as he walked more into the forest.

Meanwhile, at Dr. Eggman's cave, the evil genius groaned over the failure from the night before. "That tears it!" he exclaimed. "I don't trust those six anymore! I won't even create any more robots! Instead, I shall turn to one particular life-form who can perform the task at hand. I'll send for him immediately."

A door opened, and in stepped a silhouette; it was very dark in the room that Eggman could not see this mysterious assassin. "You sent for me, sire?" the man spoke up.

"Yes, indeed I did," Eggman replied. "You are to head for the group known as the Sonic Squad. They were once called the Knothole Freedom Fighters, but now there's more to them than ever. Once you reach them, you may win the heart of Sally Acorn."

"It shall be done," the silhouetted man said as he walked out of the room.

"Perfect! Now nothing can distract us from our plan." What diabolical scheme can Eggman be dreaming up? If he is to roboticize the entire realm, what else is there to it?

A short time later, Shadow found a floating creature standing in the middle of the deep forest. It was Black Doom! Now the two of them were face-to-face with each other to settle the score. Shadow wanted to prove his own innocence to that freak that killed Maria senselessly.

"Shadow!" Black Doom spoke up once he saw Shadow standing in front of him. "You dare attack me single-handed?! This time, I shall show you no mercy! All I need do is uproot this tree and swing it at a pile of stones." With that, Black Doom plucked a tree out of the ground with his brute strength, and swung it at Shadow to knock him back and throw him into a pile of hard rocks.

Underneath the pile, Shadow thought to himself: "I don't wear this special bullet-proof vest for nothing. Chris made this specially for me, also serving as another layer of fur. Now these tiny pebbles don't bother me." Shadow burst out of the pile of rocks and headed back to Black Doom to resume the battle.

"I have other ways to destroy you!" Black Doom continued.

"Stay where you are!" Shadow interrupted. "You've got some questions to answer!"

"On the contrary, YOU stay where YOU are!" Black Doom, using his awesome powers, controlled two tree limbs to wrap around Shadow and tangle about to trap him. "Before I completely destroy you," Black Doom continued, "I have an offer to propose to you: agree to become my ally, and we can rule the world!"

"I'd rather team up with the greatest heroes in the realms," Shadow replied, refusing the evil villain's offer.

"So, that's the way it is, eh?! Just for that, you'll die! You should have shared the world's greatest empire with me! But instead, you have chosen annihilation!" Black Doom reached down to pick up the bark that Shadow used on him days ago. He began to hurl it at Shadow, who was still tangled up in the tree's limbs. But Shadow was agile enough to move while he was still captured, ducking his head out of the way of the sharp piece of bark that was thrown at him. "I complement you, Shadow, on the battle you're putting up," Black Doom kept blabbering.

But Shadow smiled and knew exactly what to do next, making Black Doom more mad than ever. "Are you mad?! You smile in the face of death?!"

"Why shouldn't I smile?" Shadow replied. "Why shouldn't I smile when I can do THIS?" Shadow broke free of the tree limbs that tangled around him. "Chris not only gave me this vest," he continued, "but he also increased my power so that I could stop at nothing. I can still prove my innocence." Shadow, with his great speed, came charging straight at Black Doom, knocking him down to the ground with a thud. Shadow noticed something hanging out of Black Doom's uniform: a strange-looking potion with the label "TRANSFORM" on it.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice this," Black Doom said as he lied there on the ground. "It was what I used over fifty years ago, turning myself into a human so that I could allow myself on board A.R.K… I was there to see you being created, feeling in my bones that you would be such a lethal weapon against the world!"

"But now that has changed," Shadow protested. "I will no longer be a threat once I spill your secret to the whole world. Let's go!"

Later, once Shadow has reached his friends, he showed Black Doom to Thaddeus, who now understood that it was Black Doom who tricked him into murdering Maria. "You made me do this!" Thaddeus exclaimed, yelling at Black Doom. "You made me kill an innocent girl! You'll pay for that one day!" He turned to face his son Abraham and said: "Son, arrest this creature! He is now the real threat to our world!"

While Abraham dragged Black Doom to his police car, Thaddeus turned back around to speak to Shadow. "I just don't understand you, Shadow," he said.

"Come on, Thaddeus," Chris replied as he stood with the others. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Great job, my boy," Thaddeus said, changing attitude. "Next time, count ME in, and we'll get the job done sooner."

"I guess that proves one thing," Shadow said. "You're all heart. At least NOW you are."

Suddenly, Thaddeus began to fade back to his own time. "That machine must be acting up," he said as he slowly faded away. "I'm going back to my own time. That means everything will be alright for you, Shadow. I wish you the best of luck."

After Thaddeus completely faded, the public press began to clamor for a statement from Shadow. As the interview went on, many questions were asked; but one in particular brightened up Shadow's spirit: "Do you think your cycle of bad luck has ended, Shadow?"

"Well," Shadow replied. "I'm sure of it. Out of the bad came some good, like my new best friend here Luigi." But when Shadow looked at Luigi, the plumber looked pretty emotional from what had happened that day. "Say Luigi, what's wrong?" Shadow asked him.

"Nothing, Shadow," Luigi replied. "Did you ever see a fella get something in his eye before?"

"You my friend are very emotional." And all went well.

**NEXT TIME: THE SONIC SQUAD MEET… A VERY STUPID CHARACTER**


End file.
